That a model can exercise profound effects in modifying observers' behavior is widely accepted. However, the experimental analysis of modeling phenomena is of relatively recent origin and has produced theoretic accounts of modeling which are frequently uncompelling. One conspicuous defect is the lack of direct reference to more basic learning processes which have been elucidated in simpler, non-social contexts. There is no reason to suspect that learning via a model should not be analyzable in terms of such processes. The objective of the proposed research is to test a theory of modeling derived from a presently popular account of associative learning in animals. Specifically, the theory proposes that modeling succeeds on the basis of differential stimulus salience enhancement. A series of experiments will involve pairs of untrained pigeons in a yoked-control experimental procedure. One member of each pair will receive brief exposure to the performance of a trained bird (the model). Simultaneously, the other member of the pair will receive exposure to a similar pattern of environmental events which excludes the teacher. Later, both members of the pair will be tested for their ability to acquire behavior similar to the model's. In the experimental series stimulus salience will be varied along the dimensions of orientation, intensity, and length of exposure. An effort will be made to quantify those increments in stimulus salience which must be made in order for the performances of the control birds to come to a par with those of the birds which received modeling. The proposed research is significant for its attempt to integrate a commonplace social learning phenomenon with a quantitative theory of animal learning. Theoretical accounts of modeling are typically nonquantitative and invoke processes which are distant from primary learning mechanisms. The demonstration of intraspecific modeling in lower organisms is also significant. Most theories of modeling have assumed that it is an ability strictly reserved for more advanced species. If the stimulus salience hypothesis is supported, a clearer view of teachers as models may emerge. In addition to clarifying the teacher's stimulus-enhancing status, the research may suggest means for improving teaching efficacy.